Mark Harbeke

This is interesting: After once again checking in on the live data coming in as organizations apply for our 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces award with Inc. Magazine, I noticed that the average number of years they've been in business is 19.

Why is this noteworthy? Because, as Winning Workplaces noted in an article we wrote after all applications were in for the 2009 award cycle, the prior average age of applicant firms was 23.3. This graph shows that average age of businesses that have applied for our award each year is on a downward trend:

*Current application cycle – figure not final

It will be revealing to see if, as age of business goes down, the following metrics stay on their upward trends, as the article linked above discusses:

Revenue
Number of employees
Turnover (upward, or better, because it's gotten lower)

If that happens, at the end of the 2010 application cycle when all entries are in, I think this would be a pretty compelling source of optimism for small businesses, showing their resourcefulness – at a time when it's being highly publicized that optimism among these enterprises is waning.

Related:

Our next IDEAS newsletter, which will go out in January, will update the stats in the above-mentioned article for 2010. Sign up for it today.
Help us research age of business as related to success of workplace team building and other people practices – apply today to be named a 2010 Top Small Company Workplace in Inc. Magazine.